Thrillpeddlers Presents Shocktoberfest 12: FEAR OVER FRISCO

Thrillpeddlers announces their anticipated annual Halloween season extravaganza
Shocktoberfest 12: FEAR OVER FRISCO - A Trio of Noir-Horror Plays by Eddie Muller. This 12th annual festival of Grand Guignol horror theatre and black comedies, plays Thurs., Fri., and Sat. at 8:00 pm from Sept. 23 through Nov. 19, 2011, with a special Halloween performance on Mon., Oct. 31 at 8:00 pm. Previews begin Fri., Sept 23. Opening Night - Thurs., Sept. 29, 2011. Thrillpeddlers' Hypnodrome Theatre is located at 575 10th Street, San Francisco 94103. (Bryant & Division Sts.)

Tickets for Shocktoberfest 12: FEAR OVER FRISCO are $25 and $30 general / $35 premium admission for "Shock Boxes" and "Turkish Lounges" (premium tickets sold in pairs only), and are available http://www.brownpapertickets.com/event/193894 or by calling
415/ 377- 4202.

The blood-thirsty spectacle of the Grand Guignol seeps into the shadowy cinematic world of film noir in Shocktoberfest 12: FEAR OVER FRISCO, a collaboration between the city's renowned Thrillpeddlers and "Czar of Noir" Eddie Muller, author of the evening's three plays. Each tale leads the audience through a different period of terror and titillation in San Francisco's noir-stained history: the contemporary déjà vu dread of The Grand Inquisitor, the post-WWII hysterics of An Obvious Explanation, and the Prohibition era high- and low-life of The Drug. In addition, Shocktoberfest!! 12: FEAR OVER FRISCO features musical director Scrumbly Koldewyn's merrily macabre musical production numbers. The bill culminates with Thrillpeddlers' famed black-out spook show finale when ghostly apparitions materialize before the audience's startled eyes. The Hypnodrome's "Shock Box" seats provide pairs of patrons with privacy and an added jolt of "lights-out thrills".

In THE GRAND INQUISITOR, (dir. Eddie Muller) an odd young woman with a cache of used books comes calling on an elderly recluse that she believes is the widow of San Francisco's most notorious serial killer. Twenty real-time minutes culminate in an unexpected and shocking climax. Cast: Bonni Suval (Lulu), Mary Gibboney (Hazel).

In AN OBVIOUS EXPLANATION (dir. Eddie Muller), a daring heist goes awry when the crook who stashed the loot suffers amnesia. An ambitious doctor intends to solve the problem with her untested "memory" serum. The results are more dramatic than she expected - which is not a good thing. Cast: Daniel Bakken (Lucky), Flynn De Marco (Frank), Bonni Suval (Dr. Lorisson), Zelda Koznofski (Sherry).

In THE DRUG (dir. Russell Blackwood), a promising young deputy DA's efforts to crack the case of a celebrated artist's disfigurement are thwarted - by the prosecutor's own desire for the prime suspect. René Berton's classic two-act Grand Guignol, originally set in Saigon, is transposed and adapted by Muller to 1929 San Francisco. Cast: Eric Tyson Wertz (Brendan McDonagh), Flynn De Marco (Charles Marzac), Kara Emry (Claudine Van Ness), Daniel Bakken (Jefferson Van Ness), Joshua Devore (Bernard Devereux), Russell Blackwood (The Doctor), Jim Jeske (The Captain), Steven Bollinger (The Editor), Ste Fishell (Robert), Birdie-Bob Watt (Luang-Si).

Thrillpeddlers (www.thrillpeddlers.com) have been performing their unique brand of horror and fetish theatre in San Francisco since 1991. Under the direction of Russell Blackwood, Thrillpeddlers are continuously engaged in translating, adapting and producing classic plays from the infamous repertoire of Le Théâtre du Grand Guignol and producing other works inspired by the Grand Guignol tradition. In 2008, Thrillpeddlers embraced another niche theatrical genre with the company's annual Theatre of the Ridiculous Revival. That same year they were invited to perform for New York City's HOWL Festival with their productions of Charles Busch's THEODORA, SHE-BITCH OF BYZANTIUM, Charles Ludlam's JACK IN THE BEANSTALK, and Link Martin and Scrumbly Koldewyn's PEARLS OVER SHANGHAI (the Revivals' 2009 offering which went on to a 22 month run in SF). In Spring 2011 they preformed VICE PALACE: The Last Cockettes Musical to sold-out houses and glowing reviews.

The company's SOMA performance venue, The Hypnodrome, is tailor-made for the specific needs of horror theatre, musical extravaganzas, and "lights-out" spook show spectacle. Inaugurating The Hypnodrome with WELCOME TO THE HYPNODROME in 2004, Thrillpeddlers have gone on to produce wildly popular Grand Guignol bills including BLOOD BUCKET BALLYHOO, HYPNODROME HEAD TRIPS, FLAMING SIN, and AUDACIOUS ARTEFACTS. SHOCTOBERFEST!!, Thrillpeddlers' annual pageant of terror and titillation, is now in its 12th year and has become a San Francisco Halloween favorite. Prior to that the company's production history includes the American premiere of Clive Barker's FRANKENSTEIN IN LOVE, MONDO ANDRONICUS (selected Best of the 1997 S.F. Fringe Festival), a double-bill of THE MEDIUM and A CRIME IN THE MADHOUSE (in Pretoria, South Africa). Thrillpeddlers has won the Guardian's "Best of the Bay" and, and back-to-back "Best of San Francisco" awards from SF Weekly. Thrillpeddlers Theatre Company received a coveted 2009 GOLDIE AWARD (Guardian Outstanding Local Discovery award) from the SF Bay Guardian! http://tiny.cc/Lafe5 In 2010, 7 X 7 Magazine named Thrillpeddlers "BEST UNDERGROUND THEATRE COMPANY IN SF". They are also the purveyors of www.GrandGuignol.com the most complete source of Grand Guignol information on the Net.

EDDIE MULLER has twice been named a San Francisco Literary Laureate. His debut novel, The Distance, earned the Best First Novel "Shamus" Award from the Private Eye Writers of America; he's a two-time Edgar Award nominee from the Mystery Writers of America, and three times an Anthony Award nominee. Tab Hunter Confidential: The Making of a Movie Star, which he co-wrote with the actor, was a national bestseller in 2007. His books and DVD commentaries on film noir have made him the one of the world's foremost authority on the subject. Muller produces and hosts the annual NOIR CITY Festival in San Francisco, the largest film noir retrospective in the world, and as founder and president of the Film Noir Foundation, he has been instrumental in "rescuing America's noir heritage." He recently presented a month-long series of rare film noir at the Cinematheque Française in Paris.

About Seating
Pairs of patrons will surely enjoy Hypnodrome's Shock Box seats for two, which garnered S.F. Weekly's "Best of San Francisco 2008" for "Best Bonus Theater Experience." These themed seats include sumptuous Turkish Lounges, as well as private boxes including "Heaven and Hell, "The Pharaoh's Tomb," and "The Padded Cell," which offer the same opportunity for illicit trysting that was once a feature of the Parisian Théâtre du Grand-Guignol - with added special effects as a nod to the 1950s horror movie gimmicks of William Castle.

Grand Guignol
For 65 years an old Jansenist monastery down a back alley in Montmartre was home to one of Paris' great stage attractions, Le Théâtre du Grand-Guignol. Born in 1897 out of the Naturalist theatre movement, the theatre company soon developed its own distinct repertoire of short horror plays, dramas, comedies and sex farces. As many as 6 of these one-acts played on a single bill, a "laughter and tears" line-up that alternated effortlessly between gasps and guffaws. This "hot and cold shower" format seemed to intensify an audience's delight and unease as they collectively realized that anything could happen on the Grand Guignol stage - no topic was taboo, and no symbol was sacred. Particularly during the decades that book-ended the world wars, live entertainment flourished in Montmartre. The artists there played a vitalrole in the development of new performance genres for the 20th century. What is thought of today as "modern drama" and popular entertainment owes much to Montmartre's melodramas, cabarets, music halls, repertory theatres, and on-stage experiments that ranged from the avant-garde to the overtly sexual.

 

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